Yoga is the connection between the Spirit and God.

Yoga fulfills our wishes, granting us physical health, mental health, emotional wellbeing and spiritual growth. It brings us motivation, inspiration, ambition, enthusiasm, patience, calmness and mental peace, and finally leads us to a life of happiness and bliss.

Yoga provides us with liberation and the key to command our thoughts, giving us ultimate freedom from the slavery of our own thoughts, leading us to trance-like states of being in which our thoughts and reality are suspended in moments of grace, and we enjoy what it means to truly be alive and free.

Yoga has eight steps that must be mastered in order. To progress, we must move from one step to the next — in order. To graduate from one step, we must have complete mastery over all preceding steps.

1. Yama (do not's)

2. Niyama (do's)

3. Asana (posture)

4. Pranayama (conscious breathing)

5. Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses)

6. Dharana (focused concentration)

7. Dhyana (meditation)

8. Samadhi (trance)

Think of building a skyscraper. You cannot build the 50th floor without building the 1st floor. Every floor depends on the floor beneath it. If the foundation is weak, the entire structure will eventually collapse — no matter how beautiful the upper floors look.

This is exactly what has happened with yoga. Most practitioners never move past the first two steps. They remain stuck and confused about what to do and what not to do throughout the entirety of their lives. Yet they try to practice asana, pranayama, and meditation — the upper floors — on a foundation that does not exist.

Eligibility Criteria for Yoga

There are eligibility criteria for accomplishing anything and everything in life — education, professional positions, political office. To be a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, engineer, lawyer, judge or electrician, certain criteria must be fulfilled. Can a government allow just anyone to practice a profession without the requisite education, certification, licensure or subject expertise? Similarly, there have to be eligibility criteria for religious and spiritual paths. Yet we are led to believe that anything goes in religion and spirituality and no eligibility criteria is required. This is the biggest bluff and obstacle for earnest seekers in their journey towards God.

A professional without meeting eligibility criteria — a doctor, a pharmacist, an electrician — can damage humanity at a small level. But an incompetent religious or spiritual leader can damage humanity to a severely high extent. So common professions have eligibility criteria, but for the most important aspect of our lives — religion and spirituality — there are none. As a result, religion and spirituality has ceased to have an important role in people's lives, has decayed and assumed a faith-based existence instead of a fact-based one.

Enlightenment — The Only Eligibility Criteria for Religious and Spiritual Leaders

Eligibility Criteria for Seekers — Higher Consciousness: Innocence, Purity, Morality, Gratitude and a Healthy Mind

Without the evolution of consciousness, higher consciousness is impossible.

1. YAMA (Do Not's) — Anything that aligns with: Hypocrisy, Selfishness, Ungratefulness, Manipulation, Unethicality, Immorality, Betrayal.

2. NIYAMA (Do's) — Anything that aligns with: Morality, Ethicality, Gratitude, Empathy, Sympathy, Compassion, Sacrifice, Self-discipline, Commitment, Introspection, Surrender to the Divine constitution with devotion and trust.

3. ASANA (Posture)

Asana is the third step. Any posture which gives comfort and stability is our personalized posture. A posture that causes pain, instability and discomfort is not yoga. It might be good physical exercise, a way to impress others, or excellent practice for a career in the circus, but it has no real foundation in yoga.

The body is not meant to take up the mind's attention. When the body is in good shape, it operates outside our periphery of awareness. For the mind to reach the state of suspended thought in trance, it must not be distracted by the body.

Yogic stability encompasses mental and emotional stability as well. People fluctuate between happiness and sadness, excitement and frustration, lust for life and suicidal states of mind. Yogic stability is the point of absolute stillness in between — without fluctuation.

4. PRANAYAMA (Conscious Breathing) — The practice of conscious breathing, with mindful use of the vital life force. It helps command and discipline our five senses and prepares us to focus.

5. PRATYAHARA (Withdrawal of Senses) — The conscious withdrawal of our senses from the external world to our internal world. All five senses must stop absorbing information from the external environment to avoid distraction and enhance internal awareness.

6. DHARANA (Focused Concentration) — The practice of intense concentration. By remaining in a stable, comfortable posture, we reach higher levels of focus by deactivating all five senses externally and diverting them within. Our focus must always be constructive and our idol must always be a dharmic being.

7. DHYANA (Meditation) — When all five senses have stopped their external focus and have been diverted within, we reach a state of thoughtlessness — this is meditation.

True authorities of meditation can demonstrate the impact of thoughtlessness by measuring their brain waves with an EEG. How many leaders who advocate meditation can actually enter thoughtlessness themselves? If not, how is this different from betraying innocent seekers?

There are only a rare handful of people in a given century capable of reaching true meditation. This is because meditation can only be accomplished after mastering the first six steps. Today, countless people claim to be meditators while still possessing characters of unethicality, immorality, manipulation and deceit — meaning they have not crossed even the first step. Without mastering Yama and Niyam, no one can move to the next. These leaders are exploiting and fooling the innocent and needy.

8. SAMADHI (Trance) — The absolute stillness of the mind, accomplished after Enlightenment. To have command over thoughtlessness is to enter Samadhi.

This is the highest possible accomplishment through meditation. In a century, only a handful of people are capable of entering trance. No one can enter this state through effort alone. Trance is the reflection of Divine embodiment and is only possible through the Grace of God. When the Divine becomes manifest through us, only then can we enter trance. Enlightened Masters know that God can only be found in the state of stillness.

With significant effort, a small fraction may reach stillness through meditation. But in Samadhi, stillness and thoughtlessness become our natural state of being.